If McDonald can stay on the field and out of the trainer's room, it would be a good first step.

The decision late Wednesday to shut down ailing corner Richard Marshall for the season - he had surgery to repair his back Thursday in Los Angeles - left the Dolphins scrambling to add depth to a secondary already ranked 30th in pass defense.

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Although there hasn't been a noticeable drop-off in play from Marshall to Carroll, things get dicey when the Dolphins go to substitution packages. Opposing teams have a quarterback rating of 99.8 when throwing into Wilson's coverage area, and last week, Andrew Luck connected on 8 of 10 passes on Wilson for 99 yards.

"I think he's played well," Philbin said. "I don't think our secondary played up to anybody's expectation last week. Hopefully not their own. With that said, there's definitely been progress, no doubt about it."

Yet when Philbin was asked if the Dolphins planned on using Wilson at the nickel for the rest of the season, he simply responded: "As of right now."